Hostage Ends Volusia Siege, Shoots Captor

DELTONA — One of six hostages held at gunpoint for several hours helped end a kidnapping Thursday morning when he grabbed a pistol belonging to one captor and shot him twice.

SWAT team members who had surrounded the house then threw stun grenades through windows and stormed inside.

They found two assailants and three captives, said Volusia County sheriff's Capt. Ed Carroll. The assailants had threatened to kill the hostages if they did not pay $2,000, Carroll said.

The two men, who were arrested on charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, told the hostages that they owed the money for cocaine the pair had sold them, Carroll said.

Two other hostages had been released earlier, one to go to work and another to collect ransom, Carroll said. A third had been released shortly before the SWAT teams from Volusia and Seminole counties entered the house at 755 LeLand Drive, he said.

The siege ended about 10 a.m., when one hostage, James Emanuel of Enterprise, grabbed a .357-caliber Magnum belonging to Jorge Ramirez and shot him once in the chest and once in the hand, Carroll said.

Ramirez, who lives in South Florida, was in stable condition Thursday night at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Ramirez and Scott Keith Joedicker, 28, of 663 Hagar St., Deltona, also face assorted drug violations charges and illegal possession of firearms charges, Carroll said. After SWAT team members stormed the home, they found about 10 gram-sized packets of cocaine and several firearms, including a short-barrel shotgun, he said.

SWAT teams were sent to the home about 5 a.m. after police were called by the mother of one hostage, Lisa Neal, who had been allowed to call home.

A five-hour standoff followed as sheriff's officers patrolled the area without the people inside the house knowing.

About 10 a.m., the assailants let Robbie Raider, who lives in the home, go outside to feed his dogs. Raider saw a SWAT team member and told his captors that the police were outside, Carroll said.

Ramirez and Joedicker tried to disassemble the shotgun and hide the cocaine, Carroll said.

It was then that Emanuel grabbed Ramirez's gun and shot him. Police then tossed the stun grenades through the front windows, a back bathroom window and two side windows. Such grenades make a loud noise and release clouds of smoke. Ramirez was airlifted to Halifax Medical Center, and everyone else was handcuffed as the sheriff's department tried to sort out what had happened.

None of the hostages will be charged, said Carroll, who described them as cooperative.

Nearby residents were evacuated for two hours. Some went to friends' homes, and others stayed at the corner to watch.

One woman said she saw an officer staring at her at about 7:30 a.m. as she was drinking coffee. She called her husband, who saw another officer from the home's front window. They also saw SWAT team members running back and forth in woods near their home. The men motioned them to be quiet.

''It was really weird, like a movie or something,'' the woman said. ''My neighbors said they were doing maneuvers, and I thought, 'On Thanksgiving morning? Give me a break.' ''